C. L. Moore (1911–1987)

Old time science fiction and fantasy published in the 1930s and 40s, and yet at the time it was a departure from the norm. These stories have a strong emotional element rather than being based on the standard, strictly factual, 'big idea' of a lot of fiction of the period.

By today's standards the earlier ones in particular are rather purple prose in style, and there are some strange attitudes about women, considering that the author was a woman - the ending of Black God's Kiss being a real case in point - but there are also some very strong stand-out tales, especially in No Woman Born where the whole pivot of the story is the question of what makes us human, and Vintage Season a rather dark story about time travellers. Given the weaker and/or uncomfortable elements, an overall 3-star rating.… (mais)

The writing of C. L. Moore (Catherine Lucille Moore) was influenced by H.P. Lovecraft, the prince of the macabre in early twentieth century literature. Her own stories can be disturbing, as we will see, but they are also uniquely evocative of feelings and sensations.

The first story in “The Best of C.L. Moore,” is “Shambleau,” which appeared in the pulp magazine “Weird Tales” (a magazine to which Lovecraft also contributed) in November 1933, only a couple of months before Moore’s twenty-third birthday. It is about an adventurer named Northwest Smith, who became a recurring character in Moore’s short stories. In this inaugural tale, Smith rescues a strange alien girl from a mob only to find himself drawn into a weird and addictive, vampiric-sexual relationship.

In the only other Smith story included in this collection, “Black Thirst” (1934), Smith again becomes the near-victim of a psychic vampire, only this time things get bisexual as the male “vampire,” who has for centuries fed off the energy of beautiful women, reconsiders his options.

Another memorably creepy tale is “Black God’s Kiss,” published almost a year after “Shambleau.” Moore introduces her female adventure hero, Jirel of Joiry, a female knight with armor and sword. In this story, she must journey through a supernatural shadow land searching for a “weapon” to use against the man who has made her a prisoner in the ordinary world. Though exceptionally brave, she shudders as she dispatches with her sword ankle-biting creatures that splash her legs with their gore.

“The Bright Illusion” (1934) is another macabre tale that begins with a man dying in the Sahara Desert. He envisions a being that transports him to a distant planet where “people” are shaped like worms or snakes and have multiple sexes, though he is temporarily given the ability to see them in illusory human form (which simplifies the multi-gender issue by making some appear as male and others as female). Once again, Moore has a human falls for an alien, but this time it is real love – or is it?

Perhaps less successful are stories like “Tryst in Time” (1936) and “Greater Than Gods” (1939). The former follows an adventurer (not Smith) who travels to several different historical periods in quick succession and recognizes the same female soulmate in each scene.

In “Greater Than Gods,” Moore looks at alternate timelines, taking a bifurcated or many-worlds approach now reminiscent of the notions of physicists Erwin Schrödinger and Hugh Everett in the 1950s. In this story, a scientist is simultaneously contacted by his future progeny from two different timelines.

The seventh story in this collection, “Fruit of Knowledge” (1940), is characteristic of Moore in its exploration of feelings and sensations as it retells the story of Adam and Eve from the viewpoint of the ur-woman Lilith. Moore’s ability to handle strong female characters is on display here as elsewhere.

Moore wrote “No Woman Born” for “Astounding Science Fiction” in 1944, about a hybrid human-machine, created by putting the brain of a woman named Dierdre – whose body had been destroyed in a fire – into a robotic body. Is a cyborg still a human being? Maltzer, the scientist who “created” Dierdre in her new form, fears she will eventually drift away from identification with humanity, who might have difficulty accepting her in any case.

Next is a charming fantasy called “Daemon” (1946). The protagonist, a young Brazilian named Luiz, aka, “o Bobo” (the Simpleton), has always felt alien. After his grandmother died, he became homeless and eventually was shanghaied by an evil ship’s captain. The curious virtue of Luiz, aside from his profound innocence, is that he can see that everyone but himself has a “daemon,” which is an entity that can be either good or bad, but is attached to each person’s soul. Luiz feels sure that he himself has neither a soul nor a daemon. The worst example he has ever seen is Captain Stryker, who is completely evil and cruel. His daemon is a brilliant red – like a red devil – and seems to thrive on every act of evil that the captain commits.

Stryker maroons Luiz and a fellow passenger on a desert island. The passenger, known to Luiz as “the Shaughnessy,” tells him that there might be nymphs sharing the island with them, but he predicts that they will not appear until the Shaughnessy has died because they only appear to those who believe in them. After the Shaughnessy dies, the nymphs do appear to Luiz. Later, Stryker returns because the Irishman’s family is searching for him, and Stryker feels the need to eliminate loose ends, but a final showdown takes place when the captain meets the supernatural Master of the island.

Any discussion of “Vintage Season” (1946) unfortunately needs a spoiler because the fact that it involves time-travel is withheld until near the end. The main character, Oliver, spends much of the story trying to figure out where the people who have rented his house come from and why they seem unspecifiably “foreign.” The time-travelers are enjoined from telling any of the “natives” of Oliver's time period what is about to happen or to mention time-travel at all. This story holds up surprisingly well despite having been written seventy-four years ago.

This is a good if far from complete collection of Moore’s stories. She is a writer of magical if often creepy fiction in both the sci-fi and fantasy genres.… (mais)